The invention relates to a ganging bracket for a shelf unit, and more particularly, to a ganging bracket for adjacent overhead storage units mounted on space-dividing wall panels.
In open office areas, space-dividing wall panels such as those illustrated in FIG. 1 are used to subdivide relatively large open office areas into individual workstations 10 or workstation areas. One type of wall panel system utilizes vertically enlarged upstanding wall panels 11 which are supported at the opposite ends thereof by vertical posts 12. The wall panels 11 and posts 12 are joined together in end-to-end relation, or in other words are joined serially together to define an upstanding wall. Adjacent ends of the wall panels 11 are supported by a common post to thereby define a central support section and distal ends of the wall panels define end support sections. Wall panel systems of this type are well known, wherein an example is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,806,258, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference.
In the illustrated prior art embodiment of FIG. 1, the wall panels 11 and posts 12 are full-height components, which components are approximately 5 feet high. These components are joined together and define a back wall 14 of the workstation 10. The posts 12 at the opposite ends of the back wall have return walls 16 extending outwardly therefrom to define the opposite sides of the workstation 10. Typically, additional workstation components are supported on the wall panels which components include worksurfaces, shelves, overhead storage cabinets and the like.
To support the components, the posts 12 typically include a vertical row of slots although other mounting arrangements may be used. The workstation components such as the work surface 18 and the storage cabinets or shelves 20 include corresponding hooks, which engage the slots so that these components are supported in load bearing relation by the posts 12.
One disadvantage associated with such wall panel systems occurs when the storage cabinets are heavily loaded. In particular, the adjacent ends of two storage cabinets 20 typically are disposed directly adjacent to each other and are joined to the same post 12 at the central support section. Thus, the loads on the adjacent pair of cabinets 20 are supported close to the top of a single support post 12. At times, the loads may be sufficiently large in the storage cabinets 20 such that the central support section actually deflects forwardly and flexes between the central post and the end posts as generally illustrated in phantom outline in FIG. 1. The posts 12 at the opposite ends of the back wall, however, are each supported by a return wall 16 and only carry the load of a single storage cabinet, and therefore, unlike the central support section, the end posts 12 typically do not flex.
As a result of the deflection of the central support section, the front edges of the storage cabinets 20 may separate from each other such that a gap is created therebetween as diagrammatically illustrated in phantom outline in FIG. 1. This problem also may occur with heavily loaded work surfaces 18. Additionally, this problem may occur in panel-to-panel arrangements wherein a central support section is defined by the adjacent ends of two wall panels and the end support sections are defined by the wall panel ends.
To avoid this problem, it is known to connect the adjacent edges of an adjacent pair of storage cabinets or worksurfaces together by ganging clips. One example of such a ganging clip is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,802,422, which is used on an adjacent pair of work surfaces. It also is known to use fasteners such as bolts. These prior methods of ganging adjacent furniture components together, however, typically require tools, thus complicating their use and assembly.
In view of the foregoing, it is an object of the invention to provide a ganging clip that overcomes disadvantages of known clips.
The invention relates to an improved ganging bracket that rigidly joins adjacent edges of a pair of storage units or other furniture components together to prevent separation of the front edges thereof under heavy loads. Since separation or spreading of the storage units is effectively prevented, the ganging bracket resists deflection in the area of the central support section and flexing between the central post and the end posts to thereby strengthen the wall panel system.
The ganging bracket of the invention is readily usable with any adjacent pair of storage units having suitable elongate flanges disposed in side-by-side relation. In particular, the ganging bracket is formed of two separate parts that are slipped upwardly over the adjacent flanges so as to be mounted separately in longitudinally spaced relation on the storage units, and then are slid together into mating engagement. This permits the ganging bracket to be assembled and secured in place without the use of tools.
Further, these bracket parts fit tightly together and remain in tight fitting engagement such that the ganging bracket does not loosen over time. Still further, the ganging bracket parts fit together such that opposite sidewalls of each individual bracket part fit tightly against the respective sidewalls of the other bracket part. As a result, the adjacent sidewalls of the bracket parts serve to reinforce each other to more readily resist separation forces, which generally act normal to the bracket side walls, and provide a strong, rigid connection between the adjacent storage units.
Other objects and purposes of the invention, and variations thereof, will be apparent upon reading the following specification and inspecting the accompanying drawings.